Steelers Notes: Wallace ate up the Cards' secondary

Mike Bires @mikebires

Sunday

Oct 23, 2011 at 12:01 AMOct 23, 2011 at 11:45 PM

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- When the Steelers broke the huddle, Mike Wallace's eyes lit up. There were 95 yards of real estate in front of him. But he also saw a back-up cornerback assigned to cover him man-to-man.

"Lunch meat," Wallace said to himself.

On a first-and-14 call from the Steelers' 5-yard line, Wallace lined up and motioned to Ben Roethlisberger by quickly raising his hand. It was Wallace's way of telling his quarterback that he was going deep.

And on the snap, Wallace blew by Richard Marshall, caught the well-thrown ball from Roethlisberger at the 40 and then outran a few defenders over the last 60 yards.

The 95-yard TD catch that gave the Steelers a 14-0 lead in the second quarter was the longest in franchise history. It eclipsed the previous record of 90 yards was set by Terry Bradshaw (to Mark Malone) in 1981 and then tied by Bubby Brister (to Dwight Stone) in 1990 and Kordell Stewart (to Bobby Shaw) in 2001.

Wallace's TD was the second-longest play in Steelers' history, just 2 yards shorter than a Bobby Gage 97-yard TD run in 1949.

"I just turn on the burners. I just try to get over the top," said Wallace, who's caught 36 passes for 730 yards and five TDs this season. "Sometime, we play people who haven't played against us before. They see it on tape, and they think it's a game. But it's real out there."

Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald caught four passes for 78 yards, but he was basically a non-factor. That was due to another stellar performance by Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor.

"Very competitive," coach Mike Tomlin said of the job Taylor did on Fitzgerald. "But that's how he's been all year. Ike is the kind of guy who welcomes those challenges. He just has a humble, blue-collar work ethic and approach to his business."

Tomlin offered Taylor another challenge as he welcomed his players into the locker room right after the game. When he saw Taylor approaching, Tomlin yelled, "Ike Taylor! Wes Welker! See you at work tomorrow!"

This coming Sunday, the Steelers host the Patriots and Welker. Going into this week's games, Welker led the NFL with 51 catches and 785 receiving yards.

SACK TIME

LB LaMarr Woodley is on a hot streak. In the Steelers' last three games, he's had 5.5 sacks, including two against the Cardinals. In the third quarter, Woodley was also responsible for a safety when he pressured QB Kevin Kolb into an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone. Kolb unloaded the ball as a blitzing Woodley charged in untouched and was zeroing in on a sack. "Defense put some points up on the board, so that's positive," Woodley said. Woodley added that he has not been doing anything special in the last three games as all-star linebacker James Harrison has been sidelined with a fractured eye orbital.

WARD SPRAINS ANKLE

Tomlin said the only Steeler injured was WR Hines Ward, who sprained his ankle in the third quarter. It's too early to tell if Ward will be able to play this coming Sunday against the Patriots. "We will see where he is as the week goes on," Tomlin said. "Hines always finds a way to defy logic, if you will, when it comes to injury and so forth. So we will definitely leave a seat for him on the bus." Overall, Tomlin said that from an injury standpoint, "We were pretty clean."

SMITH UPDATE

On Saturday when the Steelers placed Aaron Smith on the injured reserve list, it was assumed that the veteran defensive end was having a hard time recovering from a foot injury. But as it turns out, Smith's season is over because of a neck injury. "He has to have surgery," Tomlin said. "I don't necessarily have the details. I know he was experiencing some discomfort and pain. Once he hurt his ankle, he thought (the neck injury) would calm down. But it didn't." Smith, 35, has now been placed on IR four times in the last five years.

INACTIVES

The following Steelers were designated as game-day inactives and weren't in uniform: NTs Casey Hampton and Chris Hoke, LBs James Harrison and Jason Worilds, G Doug Legursky, RB Jonathan Dwyer and QB Dennis Dixon. With Hampton (shoulder) and Hoke (stinger) out with injuries, second-year pro Steve McLendon made his first career start. After missing two games with a knee injury, Chris Kemoeatu returned at left guard in place of Legursky (dislocated toe).

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